SOUTH Africans Bianca Buitendag and Jordy Smith, are both ranked in the Top 10 in their respective women’s and men’s Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tours (CT) after the third stop of the season, the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia.
Buitendag advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time this year before being eliminated by three-time WSL and reigning WSL women’s champion Carissa Moore from Hawaii. Her 5th place finish saw Buitendag climb from eleventh to No. 8 on the Jeep Rankings leaderboard.
Smith, from Durban, who came into Margaret River ranked No. 3 following his runner-up result at Bells Beach, posted several powerful performances before he was ousted by Brazilian rookie Caio Ibelli in the round before the quarterfinals. Smith dropped four places to No. 7 on the leaderboard after finishing 9th overall in Western Australia.
Tyler Wright from Australia won the event on Friday.
The next stop on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Championship Tour will be the Oi Rio Pro from 10 to 21 May.
